More foolishness from Liz Smith

I am not criticizing or trying to even understand the health-care plan. I have a lot tied up in believing in Barack Obama and I voted for him because I want health care fixed, so let him fix it. If he is wrong or makes a mistake, then let him fix that or let someone else do it. This is beyond me, entirely beyond me. It makes my head hurt to have to have fixed opinions about such a complicated matter. It’s what we elect presidents for and I helped elect mine.



That's La Liz, gossip queen in decline. Ruth caught it and called it out last week.



We find it embarrassing that a grown (and then some -- she was born in 1923) woman would state the above. She sounds like a highly uneducated cult recruit and not like a citizen in a particpatory democracy.



We'd further offer that, sometimes, you really don't have something worth sharing. Learn to recognize those moments.



Or risk being a Liz Smith.

Groups Oppose US Training of Indoensia's Kopassus

From ETAN:


Groups Oppose U.S. Training of Indonesia's Notorious Kopassus Special Forces
Contact: John M. Miller, ETAN, +1-718-596-7668

July 23 - More than 50 U.S. organizations today urged the U.S. government to "strictly prohibit any U.S. cooperation with or assistance to the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus)' in a letter sent today to President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and members of Congress. The letter was coordinated by the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN).

"Restrictions on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia are needed to support democracy and human rights in Indonesia. Supporting Kopassus, which has <http://www.etan.org/news/2008/04brikop.htm>a long history of terrorizing civilians, would send the worst possible signal to those fighting for justice and accountability in Indonesia and East Timor," said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN.

The letter, signed by human rights, religious, peace and other groups, states, "The history of Kopassus human rights violations, its criminality and its unaccountability before Indonesian courts extends back decades and includes human rights and other crimes in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere."

A recent <http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/24/indonesia-abuses-special-forces-continue-papua>Human Rights Watch report documents how Kopassus soldiers "arrest Papuans without legal authority, and beat and mistreat those they take back to their barracks."

In 2008, the Bush administration proposed to restart U.S. training of Kopassus. the State Department legal counsel reportedly ruled that the ban on training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole.

"The previous administration was forced to conclude that training Kopassus was both illegal and bad policy. The Obama administration should maintain this restriction," said Miller.

The text of the letter is below. The letter with a complete list of signatures can be found at http://www.etan.org/news/2009/07kopassus.htm.


Text of Letter

We the undersigned organizations call upon the U.S. government to strictly prohibit any U.S. cooperation with or assistance to the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus). This force, more than any other in the Indonesian military, stands accused by the Indonesian people of some of the most egregious human rights violations. The annual human rights report of the U.S. Department of State, the East Timor's (Timor-Leste) truth commission (CAVR), United Nations human rights monitors, and the full range of Indonesian and international human rights have reported in detail the many crimes of Kopassus. Those responsible for these violations continue to enjoy broad impunity for their actions, even in a democratizing Indonesia.

The history of Kopassus human rights violations, its criminality and its unaccountability before Indonesian courts extends back decades and includes human rights and other crimes in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere. In 1998, a program -- organized and led by then Kopassus commander (and recent vice- presidential candidate) General Prabowo Subianto -- kidnapped, tortured and killed pro-democracy activists. Prabowo told reporters he is unrepentant over these crimes saying, "we could say it was preventative detention." Other well-documented Kopassus crimes include organizing anti-Chinese rioting in Jakarta in 1998 and the 1984 massacre at Tanjung Priok in Java.

Throughout 24 years of brutal Indonesian occupation of East Timor, Kopassus personnel, tortured and killed civilians in an attempt to intimidate and terrorize the population. Kopassus personnel played a key role, including organizing militia proxies, in the violence and destruction during 1999, the occupation's final year.

The crimes of Kopassus are not only in the past. A recently published Human Rights Watch report details ongoing Kopassus human right violations in West Papua. The report documents how Kopassus soldiers "arrest Papuans without legal authority, and beat and mistreat those they take back to their barracks."

Those who favor engagement argue that U.S. training could lead to reform of Kopassus. This argument is clearly refuted by history. For decades, the U.S. trained and gave other assistance to Kopassus personnel, including General Prabowo and other leading officers. This relationship had no ameliorative affect, rather, it provided the equipment and skills used for repression.

U.S. law prohibits the training of military units with a history of involvement in human rights violations. This provision has been long been interpreted as narrowly as possible. However, in 2008, the State Department ruled that the ban, known as the Leahy law, applies to Kopassus as a whole. We believe that this ruling should apply and the U.S. must continue to refuse to train Kopassus.




etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan

ETAN welcomes your support.
Go to http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm to donate. Thank you.
John M. Miller, National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668 Mobile phone: (917)690-4391

Email john@etan.org; Mobile phone: (917)690-4391 Skype: john.m.millerWeb site: http://www.etan.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/etan009
Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/134122?recruiter_id=10193810
Send a blank e-mail message to info@etan.org to find out how to learn more about East Timor on the Internet
Winners: John Rumbiak Human Rights Defender Award for 2009

Impunity at the Freeport Gold & Copper Mine

From ETAN:



Impunity at the Freeport Gold & Copper Mine: Will Indonesian Security Forces Get Away with It Again?

West Papua Advocacy Team Statement

Contact: Edmund McWilliams, West Papua Advocacy Team (New Mexico)
+1.575.648.2078 (English)

Eben Kirksey, Ph.D., University of California (Santa Cruz)
+1.831.600.5937 (English or Bahasa Indonesia)

July 23 - Amidst an ongoing shooting spree at the Freeport McMoRan mining concession in Timika, West Papua, four people have died, including an Australian Freeport employee. Six separate ambushes have taken place since shootings began on July 11.

A race to find scapegoats appears underway. Indonesian authorities have arrested as many as 20 individuals. Trusted sources informed the West Papua Advocacy Team that these detainees have been interrogated without the presence of their lawyers and at least one, an elderly man, was beaten by security personnel. Even after these recent detentions, a convoy of 12 Freeport busses again came under attack by gunmen on Wednesday, 22 July.

This is just the latest chapter in the Freeport story in West Papua - a saga of violence, human rights violations and internationally condemned environmental destruction. For decades, in numerous well-documented cases, the Indonesian security forces and Freeport's own security personnel, have intimidated and repressed local Papuans through extrajudicial killings, torture, rape and other forms of violence and terror.

Indonesian security forces have long exploited the weakness of the Indonesian judicial system to avoid prosecution for criminal activity, including violations of human rights. Nowhere is this more true than in West Papua where the culture of repression lives on beyond former Army General and dictator Suharto's 32-year rule, which ended formally in 1998. The principal victims have been ordinary Papuans, notably those living in the area of the giant Freeport McMoRan mining concession. Indonesian officials and the international community must act to ensure that the people of West Papua are not victimized yet again.

Initial Indonesian police reports suggest that those responsible for the recent attacks were "expert" shooters using weapons commonly found in military and police arsenals. Similar statements were made in 2002, when one Indonesian and two U.S. schoolteachers were killed on the same road. Ballistic evidence and eye-witness testimony pointed to an Indonesian military role in that ambush, but the Bush Administration and Indonesian officials, including recently re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, orchestrated a cover-up. An FBI investigation into the 2002 attack is still technically open. Recent history raises grave concerns about finding the truth about this latest incident. The military has joined the investigation into the latest attacks, making it likely the investigation will again fail to explore evidentiary lines leading to the Indonesian military.

Indonesia and those who lobby for its interests boast of that nation's democratic progress. This latest incident offers a test of that progress:

* the investigation of this incident must be transparent;

* the media and independent human rights investigators should be given access to West Papua and specifically the Freeport Concession;

* security forces which have long operated with impunity must be held accountable if evidence emerges implicating them.

* in the wake of this tragedy, the Papuan people must not again be subjected to retaliatory military/police action in the form of "sweeps" targeting innocent villagers in the area;

* the U.S. government and the international community must reject a military takeover of the investigation as well as efforts to stonewall independent investigators as happened in 2002;

* the U.S. should monitor developments closely to ensure that Indonesian forces do not use U.S. equipment in retaliatory "sweep" operations targeting innocent Papuan civilians as in the past (such sweeps, unrelated to the Freeport incidents, reportedly are already underway);

* and the Obama administration should focus renewed attention on an open FBI investigation into the killing of the two U.S. schoolteachers in 2002, following up on published accounts of military involvement in those murders.

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report (with us in spirit), Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.










"I Hate The War" -- Most requested highlight of the week, C.I.'s "I Hate The War." It's just on Jolie. We were surprised. We even said, "Ty, are you sure?" Even C.I. thought someone else would grab it this week and said it would probably be Ruth.







Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Barry and Totus" -- Isaiah's serves up a rest in peace for the recently deceased teleprompter.


"Iraq snapshot," "Subcommittee on Disability Assistance & Memorial Affairs," "Iraq snapshot" and "House Veterans' Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations"-- C.I. and Kat cover the Congressional hearings.








"Friday wrap up" & "Bob Somerby, convention" -- Betty didn't go to Com Con Thursday or Friday but she noted her kids and her parents did which led to e-mails galore. If you're one who e-mailed, don't worry, those who went wrote an article on it this edition.



"Teriyaki Potatoes in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers two recipes and some realities.



"Reader privacy" -- Like Ruth, we agree this is an important issue.



"Kurds find out it sucks to be the good child" -- Kat with a topic that's become very popular.





"What he chooses to speak on" -- Marcia notes some basics.





"The UN and Kirkuk" -- Go Elaine! This really was a great post.



"FSRN, Hawaii""The never ending wars"



"Things you don't Tivo" & "THIS JUST IN! THE RATINGS BOMB!" -- B-b-but, he used to be so popular!

''it's his party, he'll cry if he wants to, cry if h...," "gordo loves the night life, he loves to boogie,"
"gordo and the copters" and "gordo:illiberal and reactionary" -- Rebecca's continued Gordon Brown coverage.

"How is it journalism?" -- Ty revealed this was the second most requested highlight.

"Liz Smith stupid; Candice Bergen, vapid" -- Ruth on why some people shouldn't weigh in.

"Andy Worthington and Idiot of the Week: David Bliven" -- We love it when Mike does idiot of the week!

"Grease wasn't the word" & "THIS JUST IN! HE JUST WANTED TO SING!" -- wherein Barack confuses al-Maliki with a character from the musical Grease.

"Military propaganda airs in Wisconsin""Hillary Clinton and Aamir Khan"

"Andrea Lewis, reclaim your soul and integrity"



"People Like Us" & "The Mamas and the Papas" -- Trina and Kat cover the supergroup of the sixties.



"Amy Goodman lies again""The silences and the ones who need to be silent"



"Dualism lectures from a dualist" -- when rallying against either/or, it's probably a good idea not to have set your article up as either/or. A tip from Elaine that writers should heed.



"Tom Hayden lies again" -- Mike offers a critique of the increasingly stupid Tom Hayden.



"Robert Parry tries stand up" -- Marcia's critiques failed comic Bobby Parry.

"Angelina Jolie," "Nouri and Barry," "Painted," "Hillary Clinton and Aamir Khan," "Isaiah's draws Barack and his teleprompter" -- Ann's posts at her new site and the gang has an interview with her this edition, just FYI.

"JuniorGate," "Back off Amy Goodman," "Junior continues to rage for attention" and "The silences and the ones who need to be silent" -- Stan's continued coverage of JuniorGate.

Truest statement of the week

The arguments against March 19, 2010 were that other groups need to be consulted before what is likely the largest antiwar conference of the year decides on a date; and that working people won't take off a week day to protest. As far as I'm concerned, the antiwar movement has collapsed and urgently requires decisive, principled leadership now in order not to become completely irrelevant. So I'm saying, now that we should have the necessary discussion and planning quickly, and get on it!



-- Debra Sweet, "The Urgent Need for Decisive and Principled Leadership in the Anti-War Movement" (World Can't Wait). on the March 19th, 2010 action.

Truest statement of the week II

And how is the antiwar movement here dealing with that? Answer, what antiwar movement? We certainly can't watch what it's doing, because the answer is nothing. And we can't hear what it's saying, because there too the answer is nothing.

Where are the mobilizations, actions, civil disobedience? Antiwar coalitions like United for Peace and Justice and Win Without War (with MoveOn also belatedly adopting this craven posture) don't say clearly "US troops out now!" They whine about the “absence of a clear mission” (Win Without War), plead futilely for "an exit strategy" (UFPJ). One letter from the UFPJ coalition (which includes Code Pink) to the Congressional Progressive Caucus in May laconically began a sentence with the astounding words, "To defeat the Taliban and stabilize the country, the U.S. must enable the Afghan people…" These pathetic attempts not to lose "credibility" and thus attain political purchase have met with utter failure, as the recent vote on a supplemental appropriation proved. A realistic estimate is that among the Democrats in Congress there are fewer than forty solid antiwar votes.



-- Alexander Cockburn, "'Watch What We Do Not What We Say'" (CounterPunch).

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday.

Along with Dallas, here's who helped with the writing:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,

Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,

Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,

C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,

Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),

Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,

Mike of Mikey Likes It!,

Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),

Ruth of Ruth's Report,

Trina of Trina's Kitchen,

Wally of The Daily Jot,

Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ

Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends

and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

We thank them all. What do we have? Before we get to what we have, let me (Jim) note what we don't have. Ann just started her own site. For the month of June she filled in for Ruth (and helped here) and she filled in for Mike last week. Normally when someone starts their own site, we do an interview with them. Ann is really shy about herself, believe it or not. We asked, she said not to consider this "no" but not now. Meaning we might have an interview with her next week. She pointed out that she's only done one post at her own site. She said give her a week and maybe she'd have something to talk about. So we'll check next weekend and hopefully have an interview with her.

Now for what we've got.

Truest statement of the week -- Debra Sweet won hands down.

Truest statement of the week II -- The other serious contender here was Ron Jacobs. The first round of voting tied and the second rond saw Cockburn pull ahead by one vote.

Editorial: The lost land of Iraq -- Iraq, the lost land. We may need a Christopher Columbus to "discover" it because most outlets seem completely unaware it's still on the map. On the above and everything else all but Trina worked. Trina helped us out on two pieces and I'll note that when we get to them. This is a US State Dept map for the illustration, by the way.

TV: Meet The Fockers -- Ava and C.I. planned to review a weekly drama. And then in the roundtable a question came up, right? Wrong. What happened was we had to wait forever for Flickr uploading photos. As a result, Ava and C.I. said they'd grab Meet The Press. They weren't aware who the guests were scheduled or what the topic was. It ended up going with a question in the roundtable. Ava and C.I. did a really strong job here.

Issues effecting women veterans -- The photos in this piece are M-NF photos and click on them to get the photo credits. They're women serving in Iraq (alongside Iraqi women). The article covers the two hearings on women veterans in Congress last week. Ava, C.I., Kat and Wally attended the hearings and we're glad to grab this topic and cover it.

Roundtable -- This is our news roundtable, illustration by Betty's kids. (Why no new ones? For the last two weeks now? Her kids have been visiting their grandparents. They're back now and Betty's grandparents are here for two weeks as well. So we expect more illustrations.) We're covering a variety of topics including some raised in e-mails.

Music roundtable -- This is our music roundtable. Trina came into work on this and we thank her for it. Marcia would have done this if we'd picked another Mamas and Papas album. She loves the group but has never heard this album. If Dona and I had thought ahead of time, we would have realized that might be a problem. But we're always getting e-mails (thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com) requesting more music pieces so there you have it, an entire roundtable on music. And e-mails are also saying, "Provide the address more." The address is on our profile but we do try to provide it in pieces where appropriate.

Meet the new Ramen -- This is the other piece Trina worked on. This came up due to the music roundtable. Stan mentions Ramen. After we were done, Trina asked in passing if he still ate Ramen. He said no but, due to the economy, he's really started hitting the Patio dinners. Which led to Trina and us asking a few questions and then to a store run to get some for illustrations.

Theme of last week -- This is a short piece and we had three ways to go with this but we went with this one because it was the shortest. Dona wants to institute a real short feature so we'll be more likely to do short features.

Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Rebecca, Betty, Kat, Ruth, Marcia, Stan, Cedric and Wally worked on this and we thank them for it.


So that's what we have and hopefully it includes something you enjoy. We'll see you next week.


-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: The lost land of Iraq

What does it take to get Iraq in the news?

Last week, you really had to wonder.

You had an attack on a US military base. A successful attack. There have been plenty of mortar attacks on US bases in Iraq. There have been mortar attacks on the Green Zone as well. But usually the most that happens is someone's wounded.

The US military announced: "BAGHDAD -- Three Multi-National Division-South Soldiers were killed when Contingency Operating Base Basra was attacked by indirect fire at approximately 9:15 p.m. on July 16. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The incident is under investigation." The announcement brought the number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4326.

It also brought very little press attention.

Okay, well helicopter crashes, those are news, right?

Friday a Blackwater (now "Xe") helicopter crashed in Iraq killing two contractors and injuring two more.

Not really news apparently.

Saturday the KRG holds provincial elections (and elects a president). Despite the weeks and weeks of coverage of the January 31st provincial elections (which covered only 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces), there really hasn't been coverage of the KRG elections. Nada Bakri (Washington Post) is covering it today and McClatchy plans to have Adam Ashton (just returning to Iraq) cover it. By this time in January, there was little else you could find coverage on from Iraq. Today? Not a story apparently.

What's really distressing about the increasing silences and grasping how 'go to where the silences are' Panhandle Media isn't filling the silences, isn't combating the silence. Democracy Now! rarely gives a segment to Iraq and that's true of all Pacifica radio programs. If you want Iraq coverage, your best bet is the second hour of NPR's The Diane Rehm Show on Fridays. Most Fridays, it's included in that international hour. And that's usually it in terms of any exploration on the radio. You might get 'headlines' from other programs, an Iraq item mixed in with other headlines, but you won't get an exploration. There's a lot to explore. Here's the discussion proper from Friday's broadcast ("proper" meaning we're not including when callers brought up Iraq):

Diane Rehm: Alright and let's turn now to Iraq and the latest on violence there, David? You had three American soldiers killed Thursday after insurgents fired mortar rounds into a US base in southern Iraq. You've also got problems with the Kurds. You've got lots of issues still going on even as the US is planning its pull-out.

David Ignatius: This was a week, Diane, that reminded us of the underlying fragility of Iraq. We've gotten in the habit of not paying much attention to it. Our troops are pulling back from the cities under the timetable we agreed to with the Iraqis. And-and, these last weeks we saw in these-these bombings and the political conflicts just how easily Iraq could spin back into a very chaotic situation. Take the bombings that happened on Wednesday. By my count, there were about eleven people killed, something like fifty or sixty wounded. But what was striking was that one of the bombs was in Ramadi -- in the Sunni heartland, the area we thought had been stabilized by our counter-insurgency work. Another bomb was in Sadr City. Another was right in the heart of Baghdad, in Sadhun Street. Those latter two were really going after Shi'ites, the first, in Ramadi, was going after Sunnis. More of these bombings are going to again make Iraqis frightened that they can't be secure without militias and then you're back in the sectarian killing game and you're going to start finding fifty bodies -- dead bodies -- every morning in the morgue.

Diane Rehm: At twenty-seven [after] the hour you're listening to The Diane Rehm Show. And what's going on with the Kurds, Youchi?

Youchi Dreazen: In many ways, this is the most dangerous aspect of Iraq right now. You've had recently [June 28th] a standoff between Kurdish fighters and Iraqi national army fighters. Last year there was an incident that did not get much attention here in which US drones that were monitoring a similar standoff saw columns of armed Iraqi army soldiers and columns of Kurdish peshmerga racing towards each other. By the account of everyone who was watching it, bruising for a fight, and they stood down only amidst much mediation by US embassy and military -- as was the case here where there was US mediation. And what you have is this very thorny issue about what will be the boundaries between Kurdistan, what will be the boundaries between Arab-Iraq? How will they divide oil? How will they divide Kirkuk? These issues have been kicked down the road again and again and again. And now they're at the end of the road. They have to at some point be resolved. I think what you've seen is, when the US invaded, there was a status quo that existed under Saddam that was toppled, there was a Sunni-led status quo. Then there was a new status quo that was not sustainable where you had fighting between Sunni and Shia Arabs and the Kurds were kind of left off to their own devices in the north. Now you have a new status quo where the Shia-Sunni tensions are much reduced -- the Arab tensions -- and now their focusing much more again on the Arab-Kurdish tensions that were there under Saddam decades ago.

Moises Naim: And the Kurdish prime minister yesterday said that the Kurdish autonomous region was closer to going to war with the central government than ever before, since 2003, since the US invasion. And that points, as Youchi said, to the tensions about the divisions -- federalism, they're trying to find out what is the divisions of authority, power between a centralized government and a regional government. And this is a region that is quite different in its governance, in its function, in its economy, in its politics, than the rest of the country.

Diane Rehm: And the United States population is certainly concerned as is the Iraqi that what if the violence continues to uptick, gets worse? Do troops reinvigorate, US troops? What do you do?

David Ignatius: Well for the administration, I think there's a recognition that, as we reduce our military presence there, it is inevitable that violence will increase. That's accepted. And it's just a price of our getting out. The Iraqis want us out, we want to get out. So some increase in violence, it's understood, will happen. And the question is: Will the Iraqi forces be strong enough to contain it within acceptable levels? And what's-what's-what's your choke point? If you're President Obama and you're seeing ten people die a day, well, what do you say? Suppose it gets up to fifty, what do you - what do you do then? And that's -- it's-it's grisly. But that's the kind of decision I fear that the-the Obama administration going to have to make about Iraq over the coming year.

Moises Naim: It's very hard to imagine that there's a political environment in the United States that will support a massive increase of troops -- of US troops -- in Iraq. The-the line their will be crossed if Iran becomes very influential country in Iraq. If Iranian influence there which it hasn't seemed to be the case but that will be then the-the political base for it.

You might agree with all the above, you might agree with some of it. If you agree with none of it, we ask you to grasp that when no alternatives are offered, the above coverage is all the American people are getting on radio.

Last week saw Jay Garner call out The New York Times. Last week saw two hearings on veterans' care. There wasn't time for that to be covered. It's past time you started looking at what is being covered and asking yourself how that coverage benefits or informs you.